The present invention relates to a sheet separation mechanism disposed so as to be opposed to a circumferential face of a rotating body disposed along a sheet conveyance path in an image forming apparatus and an image forming apparatus provided with the sheet separation mechanism. In image forming apparatuses, rotating bodies such as a photoreceptor drum and an intermediate transfer belt disposed along a sheet conveyance path are provided with a separation claw in the vicinity of thereof so as not to entangle a sheet therein. To appropriately prevent such entangling of a sheet in a rotating body, a separation claw has to be brought into contact with a circumferential face of the rotating body. On the other hand, when a separation claw with a sharp tip is pressed strongly against a rotating body, the rotating body may be damaged by the separation claw.
To avoid such a trouble, some conventional techniques provide a separation claw attached at a support position so that, upon being pressed by a paper jam, a tip of the separation claw moves away from a rotating body (for instance, see JP H04-128778 A, called Patent Document 1).
Although this conventional technique can prevent a rotating body from being damaged by the separation claw that is pressed by a paper jam against the rotating body, it has a problem of impairing the original function of the separation claw. This is because, in the technique according to Patent Document 1, since the tip of the separation claw moves away from the circumferential face of the rotating body during paper jamming, the separation claw cannot perform the original function of preventing the rotating body from entangling a sheet. As a result, when multiple sheets are fed, paper jam may occur in the rotating body.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet separation mechanism and an image forming apparatus capable of appropriately preventing a circumferential face of a rotating body from being damaged by a tip of a separation claw without impairing the original function of the separation claw.